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Have your say on changing the law on 'reasonsable punishment'

January 18, 2018 at 2:17 PM

On January 9, 2018, the Welsh Government announced a 12-week consultation and its intention to bring an end to, "the corporal punishment of children by removing the defence of reasonable punishment in Wales".

My views on changing the law on the physical punishment of children

I very much welcome the consultation about removing the defence of 'reasonable punishment' and I'm very pleased the Welsh Government is committed to getting rid of this arcane legal loophole. I think it's high time we changed the law and joined the 53 other countries who've done so including our near neighbours Ireland and, soon, Scotland too.

I think it's very important we have an open, honest and realistic debate and I welcome the opportunity for parents, carers, family members, organisations and professionals to have their say on how we can help bring about this change.

For the vast majority of parents and carers nothing will change as they are already doing a great job of parenting and I hope that as a society we will soon come to see it as morally unjustifiable to hit children – as well as acknowledging that hitting doesn't work as a punishment and that it also has harmful long-term effects.